MOLE CREEK

 

1/ The journey Wildlife Park is marked by this devil sculpture, which makes it easy to find.

2/ The Tasmanian devil is a small carnivore about the size of a cat. Journey has a successful captive breeding program to help save them from the Devil Facial Tumour disease.

3/ Devils feed by tearing a carcass to pieces. They are very aggressive to each other.

4/ This ranger knew how to calm devils. You are strongly advised not to attempt to touch devils. They are aggressive and have a very powerful bite.

5/ The kangaroo were friendly, but it is a mistake to try to touch them, as they have a vicious kick.

6/ Kangaroos like to stay together as a mob, as this keeps them safe from predators.

7/ The Tasmanian Quoll is a tree living carnivore about the size of a cat. Here you see one eating a rabbit. It has a powerful, bite so you should never attempt to touch one.

8/ Quolls are inquisitive creatures, who are continuously sniffing the air for scents.

9/ A quoll sniffing the ground. Quolls are also in danger through habitat destruction.

10/ Quolls blend into the environment well. You generally only see them when they move.

11/ The wombat is a large placid herbivore. It is native to both Tasmania and Australia.

12/ Children often find wombats really cute.

13/ The ranger really loved his wombats. This one really seemed to be reacting like a baby.

14/ These are young wedge tail eagles on a Branch. Trowunna has a number in its Eagle Aviary.

15/ Trowunna has a large number of Tasmanian birds like this Masked Owl.

16/ This owl was so well camouflaged that I thought at first that it was part of a tree.

 

1/ Mole Creek is located in the beautiful Mersey River Valley. This valley is bounded on the southern side by the Great Western Tiers and on the northern side by the Gog Range. This photo looks to the south west at Western Bluff, which is the western end of the Tiers.

2/ This image looks south at Nells Bluff, which is part of the Tiers. This winter scene shows the Tiers covered by a light covering of snow.

3/ This image looks to the north west at Mt Roland on the left and the beginnings of the Gog Range on the right. The Mole Creek area is rich dairy country.

4/ This winter scene looks west from Mole Creek towards a distant Mt Vandyke covered in snow. The middle ground hill is Devils Hill. The Mersey River Valley frequently is laced by wisps of clouds.

5/ This image looks east at the corner of Western Bluff. My journey this day was stopped by the road being blocked by snow.

6/ Mole Creek has a supermarket, some accommodation, plus a small number of shops.

7/ The primary school at Mole Creek looks south at the Great Western Tier mountains.

8/ Unfortunately, the train to Mole Creek ended 50 years ago and nature is taking over.

9/ The Mole Creek Guest House also includes a shop and a cafe.

10/ The hotel lounge at the Mole Creek Hotel is currently decorated in a Tasmanian Tiger theme. Tasmanian Tigers were once common in this area.

11/ In the bar room of the Mole Creek Hotel is this impressive, life size statue of a Tasmanian Tiger. These tigers had a very wide and a very powerful bite, as shown in this statue.

12/ At Mole Creek you can order a wall cast of this model of a Tasmanian Tiger.

13/ Most interesting of all was this wall panel. It tells of many sightings and hunts for the Tasmanian Tiger in the Mole Creek area.

14/ This photo shows the main street. There are many 19th Century houses in Mole Creek.

15/ This is Mole Creek's interesting war memorial. Most Tasmanian towns have a war memorial.

16/ Mole Creek boasts this lovely, Victorian era church.

17/ When you look south from the Mole Creek area, you are presented with many impressive views of the Great Western Tier mountains.

18/ East of Mole Creek is the settlement of Caveside. It boasts this lovely, Victorian era church.

19/ This is the old hall of Caveside. In the distance is the mighty peak of Mother Cummings.

20/ This image shows the pastoral lands near Caveside. In the distance is the mighty peak of Mother Cummings. The photo was taken in the yellow colours of sunset.

21/ This is the lovely, old church of Connorville. It was funded by the nearby Connorville, historic, estate. In the distance is Millers Bluff.

 

1/ The path to the Alum Cliff is through a regrowth forest.

2/ The hills around the path are steep on all sides.

3/ Quamby Bluff is dominant in the east in this view across a meadow.

4/ The path is surrounded by steep hills and valleys in every direction.

5/ This triangle sculpture points to three points: Alum Cliff, Quamby Bluff and Western Bluff.

6/ The famous painted cliffs are to the lower right. You need to capture them in the right light.

7/ This photo shows a close up of the Mersey River, which is 200 metres below the lookout.

8/ This photo shows an orange cliff adjacent to the Cliff.

9/ In this view Western Bluff is about 30 kilometres to the west.

 

1/ This photo shows a recently restored historic building with its fine wall and gate.

2/ The photo shows the building in profile. Note the green sign in the middle.

3/ The sign has an interesting story to tell about local politics.

4/ The gate shows good workmanship. Tasmanian heritage restorers are very skilled in their trade.

5/ This photo shows an interesting colonial style house near the large building.

6/ The general store at Chudleigh is a fine example Colonial architecture.

7/ Chudleigh's also has a historic hall.

8/ The silk shop at Chudleigh has fine gifts and great fudge.

9/ The honey shop at Chudleigh is well worth a visit.

10/ The shop has a very wide range of honeys and honey products, plus a tasting display.

11/ The shop includes an artistic flight of bees that take you to the honey making display.

12/ The display includes a live bee hive to the left, models in the middle and a video to the right.

 

1/ King Solomon's Cave is an interesting, easy to access cave west of Mole Creek. It is just west of the Marakoopa Cave. There are 452 known caves in the Mole Creek area, but only King Solomon's and Marakoopa have easy access for the public. It is only 9 degrees in the cave, so dress to be warm. King Solomon's Cave also only accepts credit cards, as they have had trouble with thieves. This is contrary to the normal rule in Tasmania, where you may often be expected to pay in cash. My other cave photo galleries include: Gunns Plains Cave on the LEVEN CANYON Page and Hastings Cave on the SOUTHPORT Page.

2/ Accessing King Solomon's Cave includes some stairs and some narrow passages. However, these should be no real problem to a person with normal mobility. The passage shown above is fairly typical.

3/ In this passage you walk between two enormous mineral flow formations. The visitors below should give you some idea as to their actual size.

4/ You can only see the rock formations, because they are artificially lit up. This photo gives you some idea of the darkness that surrounds you. One highlight of our trip was that the guide turned off the lights, at one point, and we were able to eventually see a very soft light coming down from the world above us.

5/ This is a flash photo of the ceiling. Hanging down above us was a forest of stalactites.

6/ Beside the stalactite infested ceiling in this cave were these huge shawl formations.

7/ In this photo you can see a wafer thin shawl formation to the left and a huge column stalagmite to the right.

8/ This huge stalagmite is called a column. It was about a metre wide and about 20 metres high. It was too high for my flash to reach the top. Columns like this take tens of thousands of years to grow to this size. It was one of the special features of King Solomon's Cave.

9/ You can judge the height of this cave from the fence of the path below. The passage opening is about 2 metres high. Note the vast number of features that your eyes try to assess. Entering a cave is truly going into another world. I started to realize why cavers get addicted to their sport of exploring unknown caves.

10/ The ceiling of this cave was noteworthy for its huge stalactites. I estimate that the large stalactites in the centre are about 3 metres in length.

11/ This cave was noteworthy for its huge mineral flows. The device at the bottom measures radiation, which is a slight problem in King Solomon's Cave.

12/ These stalagmites were very large and growing into columns. The one furtherest away is about 4 metres in height. The plethora of shapes that you see in caves makes them very interesting to visit. They are also a special feature of King Solomon's Cave.

13/ This stalactite has become a mineral flow and has grown to be quite large. It was about 5 metres in length and about half a metre wide.

14/ What is intriguing about caves is the large numbers of colors and shapes that you can see in every direction.

15/ I included this photo to show you what the King Solomon's Cave looks like without a flash. There is just blackness punctuated with lit up formations.

16/ This low ceiling included a large number of strange shawl formations.

17/ This photo shows the huge colour range of colours that you see amongst the shawl formations.

18/ There is life in these dark caves. This is a Tasmanian cave spider. The body is about the size of your full thumb and the spread of the legs is larger than the palm of your hand. I did not want to get too close to this monster. The guide at King Solomon's Cave treated him as a pet.

 

1/ Lobster Falls are in central, northern Tasmania near Mole Creek. Access is from the Mole Creek Road near Chudleigh. The walk is a relatively easy 5 kilometre return with only the last kilometer being rough. The track follows the Lobster Rivulet and passes 3 cascades. This gallery shows the first 2 cascades, as the last is very difficult to reach. This image shows the second cascade.

2/ This image shows the lovely Lobster Rivulet, as it wends its way towards the cascades. The rivulet is named after the giant Tasmanian river lobster that can grow to half a metre in length. The track is mostly in the valley of this rivulet.

3/ On the opposite side of the Lobster Rivulet was this strange formation of rock columns.

4/ This image shows the first cascade. The drop is about 6 metres.

5/ This view looks down on the first cascade.

6/ This image shows the Lobster Rivulet flowing rapidly towards the second cascade.

7/ The rocks on the bank presented some very interesting colours and textures.

8/ This image shows the Lobster Rivulet flowing over the second cascade.

9/ This image shows the mighty roar of the second cascade.